


Decades Gone

by Sasou_Amalie



Series: Shit Luck [3]
Category: Days Gone (Video Game)
Genre: Anger, Angst, Attempted Sexual Assault, Blood, Explicit Language, F/M, Friendship, Mild Smut, Past Relationship(s), Pining, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Post-Apocalypse, Strained Relationships, Swearing, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:21:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27976509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sasou_Amalie/pseuds/Sasou_Amalie
Summary: Years have passed since a a global pandemic upended the lives of millions and future generations are trying to find their place in the new world it created.
Series: Shit Luck [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1537462
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. Escape

**Author's Note:**

> The third installment of my Shit Luck series, and most likely the last and longest one.  
> I am still enamored with the world of Days Gone and writing this helped me make some kind of sense of this crazy year and the isolation that came with it.  
> Besides my new OCs Sadie Isles and Jake Morgan you will also meet main characters from the first two works again, so stay tuned to find out what they've been up to lately.
> 
> Let's embark on one last adventure together, I hope you'll enjoy the ride.
> 
> All the best,  
> Sasou

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two Fircrest community kids come up with the plan to leave the camp and explore the world outside.

Sadie sat on a dusty work bench, hidden in the shadows of the old stable, buzzing with excitement. She looked at the recurve bow next to her bag and quiver, fighting the urge to check her belongings for the third time. She knew she had packed everything she needed, after planning this trip for every waking hour of the past few weeks.  
Sure, the hardest part was yet to come, but she was positive they’d make it out, given Jake arrived on time for once. An exasperated sigh left her lips when she checked her watch, he was already running late again, which made her nervous. Only two hours until dawn, and by then the prying eyes on the wall would be back.  
She hopped off the bench and rolled down her sleeves to put on her jacket, it was summer in Washington, but the nights were still brisk. While pacing along the wall, she kept her ears pricked for any suspicious noises coming her way. Man, she’d be so pissed if this plan went to shit now. The sudden voices outside startled her, and she hurried to press her body to the wall.  
"You sure we’re alone?" she heard a familiar tone outside.  
"Chill, it’s the buttcrack of dawn, everyone is asleep," the other person dismissed the concerns.  
Sadie shifted her weight and peeked through a crack in the wooden wall, not surprised to see Erin and one of the stoner kids lurking around behind the shed.  
"Did you bring it?" Erin asked, her arms crossed in front of her chest. Sadie rolled her eyes because she knew where this was going. Stoner guy would whip out a bag of weed, Erin would buy it and get high in the old workshop or the woods behind her house. Honestly, being a teenager at Fircrest fuckin’ sucked. All you could do to pass the time was working, in boring-ass jobs that nobody wanted. She snorted when she thought about the talks she’d had with her aunt earlier this year. Meghan wanted her to train to become a doctor, because her mom used to be one as well – a really good one, from what she’d been told, but she didn’t feel ready.  
There was this yearning in her, like voices beyond the walls were calling her name, she wanted to see the world outside the gates, with all the excitement and adventures it might hold.  
The nightly drug deal was almost finished, Erin was stashing the weed away when someone grabbed Sadie from behind, placing a hand over her mouth before she could scream.  
"You should really pay attention to your surroundings, Sades," a well-known voice whispered in her right ear, and she could actually hear him grin. She kicked him in the shin and wriggled out of his grip.  
"God, you’re such an asshole, Jake!" she furiously hissed, but he just chuckled and dropped his duffle bag on the work bench.  
"You good to go, Sades?" he asked and gathered his blonde hair into a bun. "Got the bike all gassed up and ready."  
Instead of answering she just glowered at her friend.  
"What’s with the face?" he inquired, a mischievous glint in his blue eyes as he zipped up his navy hoodie.  
"You scared the livin’ shit out of me!" Sadie growled and brushed a few dark strands out of her face. "Don’t _– ever –_ do that to me again!"  
"Alright, got it," Jake agreed before he pulled his friend into a hug and placed his chin on her hair. "So, how are we gonna get out?"  
"The guards will switch shifts in about half an hour, before that Ian, who’s on duty today, usually walks along the fence for something like twenty minutes," she grumbled into his chest while checking her watch. "We gotta leave now, just get the bike and I’ll open the gate for you."  
"Will do!", he grinned and let her go. "I’ll meet you at the wall in five." Jake shouldered his bag, held up his hand, mouthed "five" and was out the door.  
  
Sadie let out a deep sigh to calm her nerves. Although it wasn’t technically forbidden and she’d been out the gates plenty of times with her aunt or some of the Drifters, she knew that neither her nor Jake were allowed to leave the encampment on their own.  
But the first time she carefully mentioned her desire to leave Fircrest, Jake was all for it.  
He sat on the backrest of a bench in the park that used to be a Golf Club once and his face lit up with excitement.  
"Sades, this is it!" he exclaimed. "We’re gonna go on a road trip, you know, like in the movies we used to watch when we were little."  
He jumped off the bench and plopped down next to her in the grass, propping his head up on his arms.  
"This is gonna need some planning though," he mumbled, staring into the sky.  
"Yeah, we’re gonna need supplies, weapons, a change of clothes…" Sadie agreed, looking at her friend. "A first aid kit and some pills won’t hurt either."  
"And we can’t go on foot," Jake mused. "I think most of the roads are overgrown or destroyed anyway."  
"Let’s borrow a motorbike," Sadie suggested. "Like the Drifters, you know? Seems to work fine for them." She shrugged.  
"You are fuckin’ brilliant." Jake laughed, now resting on his elbows. "So when do you wanna go?"  
"I have no earthly idea," she chuckled, looking at her best friend. "I mean, summer is right around the corner, which means I’m gonna be eighteen soon… So like in two weeks or something?" "That’s doable," Jake agreed. "Do you have a place in mind? I mean, I always wanted to got to Canada, heard it’s really nice over there, like nature wise…" He rambled on and on about British Columbia and it’s coast, when Sadie remembered a story one of the Drifters had told her years ago. During winter, a bunch of them used to stay at their settlement and one of the ladies was pretty close to her mom at the time, so she spend some days at their place that year.  
One day, Sadie mustered all the courage she had and asked her what the outbreak had been like and Lex told her about her life in Oregon, stories peppered with intriguing details on different groups of people, the camps they lived in, the dangers of fighting freaks, Rippers and marauders, friendships she formed on the broken road. Fascinated by the vivid storytelling, Lex’s sincerity and her willingness to answer every single question she had, she got obsessed with the thought of becoming a Drifter, too.  
"Let’s go to Oregon," she said, interrupting Jake’s monologue. The boy stared at her for a split second, then started to nod slowly.  
"Oregon sounds good. Heard a lot about it from some of the Drifters. Not too far from here, a bunch of camps on the way." He pushed himself off the grass and held out his hand for Sadie to pull her up. "I’m gonna try to get my hands on some maps or something," he said. "And a bike. I have friends at the workshop. So you’ll be in charge of medical supplies and food, that alright with you?"  
"Sure!" she agreed, beaming. "Let’s fuckin’ do this!"  
  
She found herself at one of the gates leading to their various supply routes, but so far no sign of Jake. Sadie absolutely loathed his sloppiness when it came to agreements, especially when time was of the essence.The kid walked over to the gate to check for any security measures, but there was nothing besides a lock on latch which she picked with ease to unlock the gate. By now she could see the sun slowly creeping up behind the buildings.  
"C’mon Jake, hurry up," she breathed, shifting the weight of her backpack, and there he was. She watched him push the bike across the lawn, almost jogging next to it, his bag already strapped to the sissy bar.  
"I’m pretty sure someone saw me stealing the bike from the workshop," he panted as he approached. "Let’s get the fuck out of here!" Sadie pulled the gate aside to let him out, then followed him through the gap before she carefully closed the metal structure and secured the lock.  
"We’re in so much trouble," Jake cheered, starting the engine. "C’mon Sades, hop on!" He patted the saddle as she walked over, holding out his hand to help her get on the bike.  
"Okay, hold on tight," he said, prompting her to wrap her arms around his chest and with the loud revving of the engine, they were on their way.


	2. Cabin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first few days on the road are taking their toll on Sadie's and Jake's friendship.

Sadie sat behind Jake, her arms wrapped tightly around his chest, her cheek resting on the soft corduroy of his trucker jacket as she stared at the landscape rushing by.  
"Can you believe that there were actual roads here once?" Jake asked over his shoulder, keeping the bike on the narrow dirt path with ease. "With cars passing them? My mom showed me some pictures once, from before the outbreak. Miles of asphalt, a yellow line in the middle, running towards the horizon."  
"How can you be this fuckin’ talkative?" Sadie grumbled, sniffling. The few days on the road were already taking their toll, nights spend out in the open resulted in few hours of dozing, either in their sleeping bags on trampled dirt or – if they got lucky – in an abandoned cabin once. Honestly, there was nothing romantic about rolling around on the ground that was hard as a board, trying to keep a fire going for half the night, but spending the days exploring the nature along their path was exhilarating, fun and well worth the strain and stress. Still, her aching body screamed for the softness of a mattress and she wouldn’t mind a hot shower either. A deep and frustrated sigh escaped her lips.  
"We could stay at one of the camps along the way, princess," Jake said and she could hear him grin. Apparently less sleep turned him into an even bigger pain in the ass than he usually was and she groaned into his jacket.  
"If we stay at a camp we’ll make it easier for everyone to find us." Sadie retorted. "Word travels fast, you know."  
"Just an offer," he said lightheartedly. "I saw a bunch of arrows painted on some trees along the way, guess there must be a settlement nearby."  
"No," Sadie said simply and shifted her weight on the leather saddle. "But we should keep our eyes peeled for a place to crash. The sun will set in a few hours and I’d like to find something with a roof today, cause it sure as shit looks like rain."

***

"Hey Sades, you see that?" Jake pulled her from her throughs as they curved through a group of treetrunks. "I think it’s a cabin!"  
Sadie jawned and dug her fingers into the shoulders of his jacket before she stood up, her feet braced on the foot stands of the bike.  
"You mean the a-framed hut between the trees?" she inquired, looking around.  
"Yeah, looks like it held up quite well," Jake shouted over the engine as he accelerated und pushed up a slope. "No sign of people coming through here, though."  
"Looks like it," Sadie breathed, her eyes trained on the overgrown area surrounding the cabin.  
"Let’s crash there for tonight," Jake said. "I’m fuckin’ beat."  
They rolled right into the shrubbery next to the house and Sadie got off the bike as soon as Jake brought it to a halt.  
"God, my ass hurts," she complained, stretching her sore back.  
"You don’t say," Jake remarked sourly, handing her olive canvas backpack over before grabbing his dufflebag. "The shape of that saddle will forever be ingrained into my butt."  
Sadie chuckled at the thought and wandered over to the washed-out wooden stairs leading towards the door. "The deck is covered in dust and moss," she assessed, carefully striding across the brittle planks. "I wonder how long it’s been since someone has passed through here."  
"It’ll start pouring soon." Jake said, looking up into the sky, which was gunmetal grey, loaded with thick clouds, framed by branches full of rustling leaves. "What the fuck are you doing?!"  
He stared at Sadie unscrewing the glass of the porch lamp, seconds later she triumphantly presented him a key. "Guess some things will never change," she said, a smirk tugging at her lips as she pushed the key into the lock. "Still works like a charm."

She stepped inside the abandoned hut, scrunching her nose at the stale air with a hint of mold."It smells like ass in here," Jake complained, dropping his duffle on the dusty cot wedged into the far right corner, right underneath a big window.  
"Comes with a fireplace though," Sadie retorted, squatting in front of it. "There’s enough dry wood for a fire big enough to keep us warm through the night." She shrugged the backpack off her shoulders and rummaged through the front pocket, her hands finding the pouch filled with wood shavings and her lighter in seconds.  
"I’ll get the fire going, you get to choose the canned goods we’ll have for dinner," she told her friend, right before thunder rumbled outside and the first drops started pattering on the roof.

***

Jake startled awake at a horrible screeching sound, his heart racing inside his chest. His eyes darted around the dimly lit room, searching for the source of the noise, when the branches right next to the window scraped against the glass for a second time.  
He took a few deep breaths and willed his heart to settle down, so he could go back to sleep again. The kid turned his head and looked at his friend, who lay curled up next to him, sleeping bag pulled up all the way to her chin.  
"Only you would sleep through a fucking thunderstorm," he muttered and shook his head before he laid back down, his friend’s back resting against his side. Jake listened to the pitter patter on the window and Sadie’s steady breathing as he stared at the shadows of the branches dancing across the ceiling.  
The tightness that had been worming its way inside his chest now felt like a ton of bricks and he had trouble breathing. _‚Pull yourself together, man‘_ he thought to himself, placing his head on one of his arms, but the feeling wouldn’t subside. The ever-looming sensation of danger had finally caught up to him and he had to admit that he was scared – _really fuckin’ scared_ – maybe for the first time in his life.  
He wondered if this was how his parents felt when they heard of the pandemic that later forced them to abandon their home in Newport Beach, heading up north in the hopes of making it to someplace safe. They never really talked about the day they left home, but he knew that they’d been traveling through the country in their Range Rover, stuffed to the brim with their most valued possessions, the family dog an his brother in the back, his mother right next to their father in the drivers seat.  
According to both of them, some kind of guardian angel must’ve watched over them, up until they arrived in the vicinity of Seattle, where they got jumped by a bunch of marauders hellbent on getting their car and all the stuff in it.  
His father refused to give up the remainders of their life before the outbreak, so he stood his ground and gunned down two of them.  
When one of the other marauders broke the window and grabbed his mother to drag her out of the car, Bear, their black german shepherd, launched himself at the attacker, sinking his fangs into the face of the man.  
To this day he didn’t exactly know what happened after that, but given the fact that his family arrived at Fircrest with just a bunch of backpacks and a toddler, he could imagine how things played out for them.  
Two years later he was born inside the walls as one of the first Fircrest kids, the horrors outside the encampment nothing more to him than scary stories his older brother told him, the both of them huddled in a blanket fort in their shared room.  
Jake sighed heavily and noticed the faint sunlight making its way through the threadbare curtains Sadie had sloppily dragged in front of the few windows to keep their fire from prying eyes.  
By now he felt stupid for agreeing to go on this hail Mary of a road trip with his friend, and – even though she did anything but flaunt it – her stubborn ignorance when it came to the risks of this adventure angered him.  
He was supposed to be in charge and keep her safe, and now was the time to turn the idea he’d been mulling over the past few days into a plan. Grimfaced he slipped out of the bed, careful not to wake Sadie, who was basically nothing but a wild mess of hair sticking out of her sleeping bag. Jake silently dressed, pulling the hood of the navy sweater over his blonde hair before he slipped into his jacket, grabbed his duffle bag and stepped out of the door.

***

"Where the fuck have you been?!" Sadie yelled and stormed towards Jake as he returned to the cabin.  
"Get off my fucking back, Sades!", Jake groaned, rolling his eyes at her.  
"You were gone when I woke up!" she hissed with tears in her eyes, shoving him into the wall. "Locked me inside like a fuckin’ dog!"  
"Chill, I just went over to the camp we passed yesterday," he explained and straightened his hoodie.  
"You did what?!" Sadie glared at him in disbelief.  
"I bought a gun, okay?" he bellowed, throwing his arms up in defeat. "I bought a handgun and ammunition for my own peace of mind. Happy now?"  
"I swear to God, Jake…", Sadie sighed. "What if someone finds us because of this?"  
"You really think I’m dumb, don’t you?" he scoffed, his arms crossed in front of his chest, a sudden hostility in his eyes.  
"No– it’s just–," she ruefully fell silent.  
"Told the merchant I was on my way to California," Jake explained. "A Seattle camp scout, that kinda bullshit."  
"Why did you feel the need buy a gun?" she asked her friend quietly.  
"Because a bow and a pair of hunting knives are not exactly considered an impressive armory," he shrugged. "I just wanted to keep us… safe."  
Sadie wrapped her arms around his body und pressed her forehead against his collarbone before she placed her chin on his chest and looked at him.  
"Wake me up next time, so I can tag along, okay?" she mumbled.  
"Will do," he promised, hugging her tightly.


	3. Missing

Alex walked towards her house, carrying a crate of groceries. A heavy sighs escaped her lips as she felt the exhaustion of the past few weeks she’d spend outside the walls seeping into her aching limbs.  
A quick breakfast, then she’d finally catch some shut eye she swore to herself and readjusted the box on her hips. When she turned into her street, she was surprised to see Meghan sitting on the stoop of the house she called home, at least during winter in the Pacific Northwest.  
"Hey Megs," she greeted the sister of her late friend Amber. "What are you doing here?"  
The strawberry blonde got up and tugged at the sleeves of her sweater.  
"I uh… God," she touched her forehead and Alex was immediately alarmed by how flustered Meghan was. "I think Sadie ran away."  
Alex rose a brow before she placed the crate on the stairs and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Why would you think that?" she inquired, looking Meghan in the eyes.  
"Haven’t seen her since dinner," Meg sighed, a helpless expression ghosting across her pale face.  
"Yeah, well, that’s not unusual for teenagers like her," Alex assessed. "She’s probably crashing with a friend or something."  
"Her bow and backpack are gone." Meghan huffed.  
"Zeke and Alana rode in two days early, maybe they took a bunch of the kids on a hunting trip," Alex tried to dispel her friends worries.  
"Lex," Meghan exclaimed, suddenly grabbing her by the wrist. "I am fuckin’ serious, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered you." She chewed on her lip. "Someone went through the medicine cabinet in the house and practically raided it. Bandages, disinfectant, pills… Everything is gone."  
"Have you talked to…" the female Drifter began, but was interrupted.  
" _Of course_ I went over to Jake’s," Meghan exclaimed, enraged by Alex’s calmness. "He’s disappeared too. And with him one of the bikes from the workshop."  
The women exchanged a long look. "I promised Amber to keep her safe!" Meghan's voice caught in her throat.  
"I know," Alex breathed, remembering the evening they’ve been sitting around Ambers bed to say their final goodbyes.  
"Lex, I’m gonna need your help," Meg pleaded. "You’re the only one who can track her down and bring her home."  
  
"Fuckin’ hell, Sadie," Alex huffed while stepping through a backyard that wasn’t hers. "I should’ve known." She shook her head to rid herself of the intrusive thoughts before she banged on the backdoor of a grey paneled house.  
She knocked again when no one answered, this time a little more enthusiastic.  
"Ryan, open the goddamn door!" she yelled, pounding the wooden frame with her heavy boots.  
"Christ, Lex, I’m coming!", she heard his gruff tone from inside. "No need to kick my fuckin’ shit in."  
She watched him pull a washed out black long sleeve over his heavily tattooed chest as he walked towards the entrance.  
"What’s the matter with you?" he scolded her through the screen door before he opened it to let her in.  
"Sadie and Jake are missing," she explained, her brows knitted over worried eyes.  
"The kids have been out in the shit before," Ryan appeased and walked over to the kitchen. "Coffee?" He looked at her as he gathered long strands of greyed hair into a bun on the back of his head before he turned around and started shoveling freshly ground beans into the percolator.  
"This time it’s different," she said, barely able to mask the concern in her voice. "She took a bike."  
Ryan stopped in his tracks and looked at her. "Fuck," he pressed through gritted teeth.  
"Yeah, you don’t say," Alex huffed.  
  
"I never should’ve told her…" Alex said quietly, clutching the dingy enamel cup filled with coffee in both her hands.  
"You never should’ve told her what?" Ryan asked, leaning against the counter.  
"Ugh, everything," she answered, shooting him a worried look. "You remember that harsh winter a few years back, Sadie was a teenager, 12, maybe 13 years old–" she broke off.  
"Yeah, I do," he rasped. How could he forget the coldest winter the Pacific Northwest had seen in a decade, with everyone basically being snowed in for weeks, even Lex stayed longer than usual.  
He swallowed hard. Normally she’d spend most of the time holed up in her home, sometimes visiting Amber, Meg and Sadie, but there was this one night he found her sitting on his porch. He silently let her in and she brushed right past him, an aura of determination surrounding her. Ryan turned around only to see her standing in the moonlit hallway, looking at him with this mysterious glint in her eyes.  
Before he managed to form a coherent thought, let alone an entire sentence, she began undressing herself.  
He watched her drop her worn out sherpa jacket to the floor, his mouth went dry the second she pulled her knit sweater over her head and the haphazard bun of hair came undone.  
"Lex…" he began softly, but she made it clear that she wanted him to stay quiet. Alex held his gaze as she slipped out of her shoes and jeans while he had the sudden realization that he’d never seen her unarmed before. Electric tension filled the room between them, his sudden longing leaving him breathless. The situation felt unreal, like a dream and Ryan couldn’t help but stare at the female Drifter, who silently stood in the middle of the room, her body only covered by underwear and tangled strands of dark hair, waiting for him to make a move.  
He took the two steps in a heartbeat, lifted her up and pushed her back up against the wall above the dresser as their lips finally locked. Her frame was small, almost fragile in his arms, but he knew her well enough not to underestimate the fire burning inside her soul. He didn’t waste any time and shoved his pants down his hips, her nails clawed at his back as he pulled her underwear aside and pushed himself inside her.  
A moan fell from her lips and she buried her face in the crook of his neck the second he started moving. They never made it to the bedroom that night.  
This strange occurrence turned into a habit, whenever Lex dropped by on one of her runs, she’d end up in his bed for a few nights. He never made the mistake to consider this a relationship, but he cared a great deal about her, so one day he decided to trade the comfort of his quiet, suburban life as the camp's carpenter for the adventures of riding the broken road with her.  
When he told her about his decision a feisty grin crossed her face.  
"What took you so long?" was her only comment, he still owed her an answer to this day.  
  
Alex noticed the absent gaze in his brown eyes and took a sip of her coffee.  
"Anyway, she’s always been a bright, rather curious kid, so one day she asked why I became a Drifter," she continued her story, interrupting Ryan’s train of thoughts. "I told her about the first years after the outbreak, how I’ve been moving between camps, riding with different people."  
She let out a wry laugh "God, she enjoyed this so much, soaked up every little detail. She loved the part where I told her about the different camps and groups in the area, she was so eager to keep me talking that she bombarded me with a million questions…" Ryan rose his brows, already knowing the conclusion his friend had come to.  
"I think she’s trying to get there," Alex sighed.  
"To Oregon?" he asked, a hint of doubt in his voice.  
"Yeah," Alex breathed. "I think Sadie decided to go there and she convinced Jake to join her on this fucking idiotic roadtrip."  
Ryan sighed and placed his mug on the counter. "You’re gonna go after her, aren’t you?"  
"I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to her," Alex said silently, tears shimmering in her eyes. "I owe Amber so much, it’s the least I can do."  
"And you’re here to ask me to come with you," he stated, matter-of-factly.  
Instead of answering she just nodded and wiped a tear from her cheek.


	4. Ambush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Sadie come to realize that life outside the camp is everything but fun and games.

Sadie stared at the grey and cloudy sky, which seemed to mirror her mood. Since Jake had left her behind to buy a gun, a certain tension lingered between them, but neither one of them was eager to clear the air. She huffed in frustration and took a look around, nothing but overgrown carcasses of cars strewn across the disintegrated road. Jake carefully rolled over loose chunks of asphalt and she didn't want to startle him, so she nudged him softly.  
"That building over there looks like a gas station, maybe we should try to get some gasoline?" Sadie suggested. "This might be our last chance for a while."  
"Fine," Jake breathed, maneuvering through the cars in their way before he came to a halt next to the gas pump. "Just hop off and take the can, tank’s still full enough. I’ll be over there and check the building for any supplies, okay?"   
"Yeah," Sadie replied and screwed the lid off the canister before shoving the nozzle into the opening. She groaned at the trickle of gasoline barely filling the jerry can, when she spotted a kink in the pipe that needed fixing. „Ugh, fucking annoying.“  
She sighed and took a few steps to the side to keep an eye on the motorcycle parked a bunch of feet away when she heard a pounding noise behind her back.  
"Sadie, watch out!" Jake yelled the second she spotted the wolf running towards her. She bend down and grabbed the can, seeing Jake jump through one of the broken windows in her peripheral vision, the wolf only a few feet away from her.  
She took a step backwards and stumbled over some rubble on the asphalt, causing her to fall hard on her back while gasoline spilled out of the canister and soaked her right arm and side.  
Her stomach dropped as soon as she lifted her head and spotted the wolf launching at her, when a shot rang through the eerie quiet of the scene right before the bullet drilled through the animal’s throat, unleashing a fountain of blood onto the pump and the asphalt.  
"Sades, get up," Jake, now at her side, urged her. "There’s a whole fucking pack coming for us!" She grabbed the can and scurried beside him as he dragged her along.  
"They’re too fucking close!" she panted, the gasoline sloshing in the canister.  
"Leave it!" Jake yelled as he hurried towards the bike, jumped on the saddle and kickstarted the engine. "Get on here!"  
Sadie spun around and hurled the canister right into one of the wolves, before she jumped on the bike, barely able to grab Jake’s hoodie before they dashed away with spinning wheels.

***

Jake and Sadie sat around the small campfire in silence, both lost in their individual thoughts.  
The young man looked over to his friend, trying to figure out if she was as scared as he was.  
Sure, when she first came to him with this insane idea he immediately agreed to accompany her – life in the blocks could get really boring, especially when you were a 20-something guy with shit to prove.  
But being out here, in the harsh and unforgiving wilderness of the Pacific Northwest, he felt vastly unprepared. His fingers brushed against the gun stashed in the back of the waistband of his jeans for the millionth time in the past five minutes, but somehow it didn’t comfort him at all.  
He huffed and shifted his weight to keep his legs from falling asleep in this uncomfortable position. Sadie threw him a glance before she grabbed the wooden stick she’d been using to keep the fire going all night.  
"Stop fidgeting," she hissed without looking at him. "You’re making me nervous."  
He scoffed. "I knew it."  
"Knew what?" she asked with an exasperated sigh.  
"You’re scared," he exclaimed, his tone relieved.  
"I’m not," she retorted, poking around the fire. "Just annoyed and hungry."  
"C’mon, just admit that we’re both in over our heads," he growled, giving her a dirty look.  
"Geez, Jake, calm the fuck down," she chuckled, putting the piece of wood aside. "What are you so afraid of?"  
"Don’t you remember the drifter’s stories?" he shuddered and pulled his sleeping bag around his shoulders. "Aren’t there like freaks, Rippers, marauders and shit supposedly out here?" He rose his brows.  
"Yeah, but this was before," she explained, a hint of arrogance in her tone. "They’re long gone."  
Jake shook his head and snorted. "You know what? Be the brave one, I don’t care. I’m just gonna get some shut-eye." He turned on his side, his back facing the fire, his head resting on his bag. Sadie rolled her eyes and pulled her knees to her chest. For all she cared, he could sulk as much as he wanted to.  
  
A loud crackle jolted her out of her slumber.  
"Fuck," Sadie muttered under her breath, she must’ve fallen asleep. She looked at the dying fire in front of her and thanked the log that must’ve cracked for waking her up.  
When she turned around she found Jake’s sleeping bag to be deserted, his gun carelessly shoved into his dufflebag. Fear crept underneath her skin and made her heart flutter.  
"He’s just taking a leak," she mumbled to calm herself before she got off the ground. A steady breeze blew across the field, rustling in the bushes surrounding them. Sadie pulled her flashlight from her bag and went to check on Jake. She spotted a small patch of trees in the distance and decided that this was probably the place to be for a piss in peace.  
She moved the light beam along the shrubbery to her left and picked up her pace when she heard branches snapping.  
"Jake?" she said loudly, her tone wavering.  
"Stop yelling, I’m over here!" his exasperated tone sounded from somewhere to her left. "Be there in a sec."  
Sadie sighed with relief as soon as he emerged from the darkness between the trunks.  
Jake saw how scared she was but didn’t bother commenting on it. They still had some time to kill before the sun would come up again.  
"Sorry I fell asleep," Sadie said in a low voice.  
"Don’t worry," he shrugged and looked at his friend. "I kept my eyes on the camp." He gently nudged her. "We’ll be fine." Sadie threw him a glance as he brushed a strand of his shaggy blonde hair behind his ear and a wry grin crossed his lips.  
"Yeah, but don’t leave your fuckin’ gun laying around at camp next time," she teased him, to which he replied with an eye roll.  
  
"Yeah kid, listen to your friend," a low voice sounded from behind them, making their blood run cold. Jake turned around to face the guy talking to them the second he stepped out of the shadows.  
"Stay the fuck away," he growled and moved in front of Sadie to protect her. "Or I’ll beat the shit out of you!"  
"Oh, so chivalrous!" his opponent remarked, followed by a sinister laugh. "Good thing is, I didn’t come alone." Right on cue another man stepped out of the bushes and Sadie felt Jakes confidence crumble as the two men moved in on them. She noticed the palm of his left hand on her arm as he lifted the other one in a desperate attempt to stop them.  
"Run!" he shouted and pushed her away, causing her to drop her flashlight, before he lunged at the man closer to him. He threw a few punches but was overpowered before he could do any real damage.  
"Get the girl!" the man ordered, throwing his arm around Jakes throat.  
Sadie sprinted towards their camp, barely illuminated by the dying embers in the distance, hoping to make it to Jakes gun before the man, whose steps thundered behind her, would catch up, when she tripped over something in the dark.  
She fell face forward onto the hard ground, the impact forcing all air out of her lungs. A hand on her shoulder roughly turned her on her back and held her down.  
"Jake," she coughed, feeling the weight of the man on top of her.  
"Shut – the fuck – up!" the guy holding her down growled, lifting his hand clutching a hunting knife so she could see it. "If you keep screaming, I’m gonna slit your throat. And after I’m done watching you bleed out, I’m gonna gut your fucking friend like a fuckin’ pig." A husk laugh left his lips and she could smell the alcohol in his breath. She rolled her head to the side only to see a defeated Jake being held back by the other man.  
"He can’t help you," her attacker snarled, supporting himself by putting the hand with the knife to the ground, the free one working on his buckle.  
"Sadie!" Jake screamed and the panic in his voice sent a cold trickle down her spine. He tried rearing up against the iron grip of his attacker, who stopped his futile attempts by reinforcing his chokehold. She saw Jakes fingers helplessly clawing at the arm restricting his airway and the fear in his eyes. Tears pricked behind her lids as she felt the guys fingers brutally digging into her thigh. Suddenly everything felt far away, sounds around her were muffled and time slowed down. She felt the man’s breath hot against the side of her neck as he was working to get his pants off. This was it, this was the world Lex had warned her about in her countless stories recalling the end of the world. Sadie remembered how much the Rippers had scared her as a teenager and how hard it was to imagine that there was a time, where people were constantly at each other throats, everyone fending for themselves, when all she knew was communal life in the boring safety of her settlement.  
She never understood why Lex felt the need to instruct her on selfdefense, archery and guns and didn’t give up, no matter how indifferent or unwilling Sadie acted towards her.  
_I promised to keep you safe,_ Lex’s words echoed in her head, and suddenly everything she’d ever learned came flooding right back. Sadie dug her fingers into the ground at her side and threw the fistful of sand she’d grabbed right into her attackers face.  
"You fuckin’ bitch!" he yelped and swung the knife to slit her throat, but Sadie had already rolled over. She hurried to get up, but the guy grabbed her by the ankle and yanked her through the dirt. Sadie turned on her back and pulled her knee towards her chest, her fingertips frantically grasping for the hunting knife tucked into her boot. The moment he towered over her, she rammed her heel into his stomach. He hunched in pain and his grip loosened, Sadie took the chance to free her leg. Just as she got on her elbows, the man lunged towards her, his knife aiming for her head. She instinctively shielded her face with her left arm, the bowie knife in her hand still in reverse grip, her opponents blade grinding along her own followed by a soaring pain exploding in her shoulder. I took her all the strength she got left to push herself off the ground and stumble into the night, leaving Jake and the two men behind.


End file.
